Pubdate: Thu, 26 May 2005
Source: Jackson Sun News (TN)
0505267242567
Copyright: 2005 The Jackson Sun
Contact:  http://www.jacksonsun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1482
Author: Tiffany S. Jones

RESPONSE UNIT TO AID RECOVERY OF CHILDREN EXPOSED TO METH

Thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, area youth who are
victims of meth crimes will now have a place of refuge from all the chaos
that goes along with a meth bust.

Jackson Police Department has purchased the state's first Drug Endangered
Children's Response Unit with a portion of the $250,000 grant it received
through the Community Oriented Policing Service office.

The new unit "is the response vehicle that we'll take to get the children
out of that stressful environment," JPD Chief Rick Staples said.

JPD was one of eight agencies nationwide to receive the grant that was
awarded last May. The grant is to start a Drug Endangered Children's program
in the Jackson-Madison County area, which will include medical officials and
workers from the Department of Children's Services, said Lt. Barry Michael
of the Metro Narcotics Unit.

The vehicle cost $130,000 and was constructed from scratch to fit the
program's specifications. The remainder of the grant will be used to stock
the vehicle with medical supplies, gender-specific clothes, toiletries,
snacks and various activities, Michael said.

Whenever children are taken from a home where a meth lab has been found,
they have to go through a decontamination process. This vehicle will allow
the children to go through that process in the vehicle instead of outdoors,
Michael said.

Before police had the vehicle, the children had to go through
decontamination once they got outside the house.

"It's kind of traumatic for a child to be taken out of their home, and to
have to go through that process (outside) can be embarrassing," Michael
said.

The vehicle is equipped with a bathroom complete with a shower for older
children and a bathtub for younger children, he said.

In an effort to keep children from seeing their parents being brought from
the home in handcuffs and the other happenings in a bust, the vehicle also
has been equipped with a TV and DVD player and may eventually include video
games, he said.

The grant also will enable JPD to assist other agencies in the region with
meth busts, police said.
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